Can blockchain bring entertainment industry out of the woods?

A large chunk of the entertainment industry still remains in a state of the crux, even though most countries across the globe are now on their road to recovery from COVID-19 closures. 

With cinemas shut and Netflix viewership on the rise, the global entertainment industry is finding it extremely challenging to get back to its original glory and recover losses from the prolonged suspension of entertainment services. Box office revenue losses are skyrocketing, and so are the illegal downloads and piracy levels.

However, according to one Oscar-nominated movie producer and head of global partnerships at ConsenSys, Steven Haft, the entertainment industry, particularly the music industry, is ready for a blockchain-powered transformation. 

Lights, Camera, Blockchain!

During a recent interview with Forkast.News, Haft said that the music industry would permanently set a bold course for the future and show the world how technologies can drive the next wave of entertainment.

Although blockchain is still in its rudimentary stage with potential for development, Haft continued, it hasn’t deterred entrepreneurs and innovators of the entertainment industry from leveraging the benefits.

His blockchain firm ConsenSys has been involved with bringing technology to music and blending the two concepts to form a revolutionary outcome. 

The famous English singer-songwriter of the Hide and Seek fame, Imogen Heap, was one of the very first mainstream musicians to release her music album “Tiny Human” on Ethereum blockchain back in 2016. Soon after, other music composers like Lumiere and FinFabrik jumped on the bandwagon.

Lauren deLisa Coleman, who is the founder of Vapor Media, believes that blockchain can offer a much-needed decentralized platform for financing entertainment industry shows, track revenue streams and help creators reach out to a bigger audience.

Earlier this year, her firm also sponsored a NextTech Lodge – a full-day event that focussed on nascent technologies and their role in transforming the face of the entertainment industry.

Hollywood hit hard by COVID-19

Meanwhile, the Hollywood industry is poised to bear the severe brunt from COVID-19 lockdowns. As revealed by the World Economic Forum, the global movie industry losses are expected to top $17 billion by the end of this month and will be even more if lockdowns continue.

With a large number of world populations confined to four walls, it comes as no surprise that many countries are seeing towering piracy levels. MUSO, a piracy tracker tool, revealed last week that there had been an average of 45 percent increase in usage of piracy domains in the month of February and March.

Another research conducted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Innovation Policy Center suggests that digital piracy is a much deeper-rooted problem than we think it is. Billions of views of American movies and TV shows are a result of this illicit activity every year, slashing the global movie market’s revenue of $136 billion by at least 30 to 50 percent. 

Can blockchain rescue the sinking Hollywood ship?

Clearly, for the global entertainment industry, the COVID-19 lockdowns have only meant a crisis on top of another crisis. However, blockchain itself can create a decentralized, transparent, and immutable distribution channel for the creators, thus empowering them with a protective barrier against piracy and copyright infringement issues.

The decentralization of sponsorship of movies and tokenizing frames through smart contracts would allow even small-scale investors to have a go at success. If the film does well at the box office, the investor’s token would also shoot up in value.

That said, disrupting a trillion-dollar entertainment industry wouldn’t be an easy task, simply because the new model will require endorsement by renowned studios, production houses, and cinemas around the globe. With no intermediary between the producer and the investor, there’ll be no room for hidden marketing firms or print agencies.

Yes, it seems like a daunting task as of now, said Haft, but we, as a company, are actively seeking to transform the entertainment industry of tomorrow with blockchain.